Did You Take the B From My _ook?

The Stantons, an Australian husband-and-wife duo, launch the Books that Drive Kids Crazy! series by appealing to children’s eagerness to correct something they know to be wrong. “Do you have favorite things?” asks an unseen narrator. “I have favorite things. They are bats and beaches and bread and bushes and bulldozers.” When a sneeze blows all of the Bs out of the book, words’ meanings get garbled. A butterfly becomes an “_utterfly,” a beetle an “_eetle,” and blue boots “_lue _oots.” Simple line drawings featuring bright pops of color document the growing chaos (“What? The _eetle is wearing the _lue _oots and jumping on the _ed!”), which can only be contained with readers’ help: “Come back B!!!!” It’s a winning bit of interactive silliness that offers insight into the way small changes can have big results where words are concerned. Ages 4–8. (May)